Joshua Krause<\/p>\n
By all appearances, Daniel and Alexander Meitiv are smart, responsible parents who want to instill independence in their children. They don\u2019t like to throw caution to the wind, but they do believe that kids should be granted some freedom, so that they may learn how to take care of themselves from an early age.<\/p>\n
They practice what\u2019s known as \u201cfree range parenting\u201d<\/a> as opposed to hovering over their kids and showering them with fear and paranoia like most parents do these days. Unfortunately, their attempts to instill responsibility and self-reliance in their children has met with resistance from the society they live in.<\/p>\n Last December, Daniel and Alexander Meitiv ran afoul of the nanny state, when they had the gall to allow their children to walk home alone from the park. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have let them do it if we didn\u2019t think they were ready for it\u201d they claimed. What they didn\u2019t realize was that in America, the State<\/a>knows what\u2019s best for children, parents be damned.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe world is actually even safer than when I was a child, and I just want to give them the same freedom and independence that I had \u2013 basically an old-fashioned childhood,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s absolutely critical for their development \u2013 to learn responsibility, to experience the world, to gain confidence and competency.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n On Dec.\u00e2\u20ac\u203020, Alexander agreed to let the children, Rafi and Dvora, walk from Woodside Park to their home, a mile south, in an area the family says the children know well.<\/i><\/p>\n The children made it about halfway.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Police picked up the children near the Discovery building, the family said, after someone reported seeing them.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Meitivs say their son told police that he and his sister were not doing anything illegal and are allowed to walk. Usually, their mother said, the children carry a laminated card with parent contact information that says: \u201cI am not lost. I am a free-range kid.\u201d The kids didn\u2019t have the card that day.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n